Coupling.



R. E. L. JANNEY & E. P. KINNE.

COUPLING.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.21, 1911.

Patented Mar. 9, 1915.

s sums-sum 1.

R. E. L. JANNEY & E. P. KINNB. COUPLING.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.21, 1911 1,131,139, Patented Mar. 9, 1915.

5 SHEETS-'SHEET 2- [WI/awry,

ivKl/kyliclrn J) ,r/ 41/4 /%/%W J 1. 736% (Y am R. B. L. JANNEY & B. P. KINNE.

COUPLING.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.21,1911.

. 1,1 31,139. Patnted Mar.9,1915.

5 SHEETS-S HSET 8.

R. B. L. JANNEY & E. P. KINNE.

005mm. APPLICATION FILED JAllffil 1911 Patented Mar. 9, 1915.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 4 'R. E. L. JANNEY & B. P. KINNE.

COUPLING.

APPLICATION FILED 1111,21, 1911.

1,131,139. Patented Mar. 9, 1915. 1

5 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

BQBERT E. L. JANNEY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINGIS, AND lilklii jfi e'i OHIO, ASSIGNDBS TO AMERICAN STEEL FOUNDEIES. C

CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

COUPLING.

Application filed January 21, 3911.

To alt whom it may concern Be it known that We, ROBERT E. L. Jay NEY, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, and Emiuno P. KINNE, residing at Alliance, in the county of Stark and State of Ohio, both citizens of the United States, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Couplers, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to improvements in car couplers and has particular reference to a car coupler having a pivoted knuckle opener or kicker. This embodiment of the invention is shown in connection with a coupler having a locking block adapted for vertical movement on a rib within the coupler heed, the lock-setting and anther-coping means bein applied directly to said block and rib, said block being the means used for keeping the pivoted opener in place.

We are aware that pivoted, transversely operating openers for couplers are not new but such openers heretofore have been mounted Without such freedom of movement as Wiil permit the opener to follow the path of travel of. the knuckle tail during the opening movement. During the opening or closing movement of the knuckle tail any nlar point on the tail follows a line an is an arc of a circle, the axis of which is the axis of the knuckle pin. Therefore it will be seen. that in order to avoid frictional rrsis'iance in the openiing operation the opener should follow a path which is at all times tangent to the circle described by the" knuckle tail. If it is tangent to the circle at one point only, say for example at the beginning of the opening movement. then the leverage of the opener becomes less and less as its path becomes less tangent to the path of the knuckle tail. In order to make this clear it has been illustrated diagrammatically in the drawings.

is accomi'ilished by the manner in which the kicker pivoted, all of which will be later described.

It is a well known deficiency in couplers that after continued use the parts become Specification of Letters Eaten? 3",; {1; 1 1. a

worn to not he thrmvn knuckle up in man. couphar n.4, .5: further ad a in connection lti as sho yn in the s'lrau'ine" seating the lock from the hi opening movement of the kn and we venting its becoming l'tm Mel on the kick set during the (aiming ni-., -.'rnicn21 another advantage iiw i: when of the kicker \vith rel tion to the io Wh ck whereby the eight of the kicker is u to assist in seating the iock on the ls'i i'lysct.

Other and further advantags will appear hereinafter and be particularly pointed out in the claims.

()ur invention iviii he mor stood by ioi'ew-ii e to the drawings, W

nfill; being; front ieailiiy under a?cornpanving &5. i? A line as l ig. 5, but shoring th in normal lockii position 9 show the positio v. and its trunnioos inoperative position, the beginning: of the opening movement, and the complete moiement. Fig. it) shows by diagram the opera tion of our knuckle throiier with respect to the knuckle tail. Fig. ll is imilar diagrammatic view showing; tin: action of a rigidly mounted tral'isve iv operated knuckle thrower. Fig. .2 a' section through the coupler just above the knum showing the knuckle in plan, and Fig. if? a section taken on the same line showing the relative position of the lo k to r.- Y the knuckle when the knn Referring in re pei'tiip. ings it will be seen it i posed of a coupler shank 20, he

if? a head awma sww wm.. no...

provided with the usual guard arm 21, knuckle retaining portion 22 and with an internal recess 23. The knuckle 24 is )ivoted within the head by means of a knu kle pin 24. The knuckle 24 is provided with a tail portion having a locking face 25, on the reverse side of which provision is made for the accommodation of the knuckle opener later to be described. On the upper surface of the knuckle tail I provide an arc-shaped groove 27, for a purpose to be also later described. This groove 27 is best shown in Figs. 25 and 12. Within the recess 23 in the coupler head, we provide an integral, vertically extending rib 28, having a lock setting notch or ledge 29 and an anti-creeping abutment 30. A look 81 adapted for vertical movement on said rib 28. This lock is provided with a groom 32, said lock hav ing at its lower end a squared portion 33, serving as a seat portion to seat upon the lock-set shoulder or ledge 29. ()n the opposite side of the groove at the lower end of the lock we provide a hook 34, which hook, together with the abutment 30, prevent the creeping of the lock during normal operation. This lock is provided on its upper surface with a staple 35, with which is connected a lifting link 36, having a clevis 37 attached to the upper end thereof. This link 36 is connected to the staple 35 through an elongated shit 32. As is well understood, it is desirable that when the lifting member of a lock has performed its duty of lifting the lock and in some cases throwing the knuckle, it is desirable that said lifter should descend out of the way to prevent possible breakage, but it is also desirable that it should by its position indicate whether the lock is in normal locking position or Whether it is on the lockset. Therefore the slotted connection with the lock provides for the descending of the lifter to nearly its normal position, but still maintains it sufficiently elevated to indicate that the coupler is not locked. On the lower surface of the lock near its front end we provide a projection 39 having a beveled rear face which is adapted for cooperation with the groove 27 on the knuckle tail, this means accomplishing the positive unseating of the lock from the lock-set during the opening movement of the knuckle and preventing the reseating of the lock during the return movement of the knuckle tail. As will'be seen, the lock is lifted from a point to the rear of its center of gravity. Therefore when the portion 33 reaches a point opposite the notch or ledge 29, it will swing by gravity into such notch. This seating action is made positive by the location of the lock with reference to the lifter later to be described.

As will be seen by reference to Fig. 5, if the lock is lifted to a point where its lower edge is coincident with the notch 29, its up jection 39 of the lock, cooperating with the n groove 27, will draw the lock off the lock-set ledge 29, the lock dropping a short distance or to such an extent that the squared portion 33 is not opposite the notch 29. This, to-

gether with the fact that the lock held in this position by the coiiperation of the projection 39 with the groove 27, obviates the possibility of the lock being again seated on, the lock set during the opening increment of the knuckle. Figs. 12 and 13. As shown in these slows the shape of the groove is such that on the beginning of the opening movement of the knuckle the projection 39 will be contacted with'the rear wall. 27 of the groove near the mouth thereof. Due to the eccentricity of the groove with relat on to the pivot pin, the lock drawn forward from its lock set posi tion and being unsuppi "l will drop upon the knur tom below the deli setle: e and 1 min in this position throughout the opening and closing movements of the knot-lib.

When the lock is lifted above its lock set position to swing the knuckle open to its fullest extent, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 13, it is desired to prevent the look from again going back on the lock set, and this is accomplished by means of the projection 39 dropping in front of the extension 2? when the lock drops, while the knuckle is stationary.

The 0 ening movement of the swinging knuckle )8 limited by means of a sto shoulder 50 upon the bottom of the knuc le tail, which stop engages the front wall of the cess 23, as shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings.

VVe will now proceed to describe our novel knuckle opener or kicker. Integral bearings 40, 41, are provided within the recess 23 of the coupler head, these bearing recesses be ing of novel shape and position with rela tion to the axes of the coupler.

As will be seen by reference to Fig. 5, the bearing recesses have their sides open to the interior of the coupler head and that they are considerably longer than wide. Also that they are not in a horizontal plane, neither are they in a plane coincident with the longitudinal axis of the coupler. This is best shown in Fig. 3. Within these bearings is mounted an openerhaving trunnions 42, 43, with a downwardly and sidewardly projecting foot or kicker 44, and an arm 45 arranged at substantially right angles to the kicker portion 44. The arm 44 is adapted for contact with the upper portion of the locking block previously described and is best shown in Fig. 5. It will be noted that" the peculiar mounting of the knuckle This action is illustrated in thrower is designed for the accomplishment of a specific result; that is, the elimination of friction between the opener and knuckle tail, the parts being so arranged that the full power of the opening lever is exerted most advantageously.

In many couplers of this type heretofore the opener has been mounted in rigid bearings transversely of the coupler; that is, in bearings parallel with the longitudinal axis of the coupler. Therefore the force exerted to swing the knuckle is partly lost through friction and the-imperfect leverage exerted on the tail of the knuckle. This is illustrated diagrammatically in Fig. 11. In this view let the points A, B, represent the travel of the knuckle tail and let the arrow G, 1), indicate the direction of force applied by the knuckle opener. It will be seen that at the point E, the extreme leverage for the swingin of the knuckle is exerted, that at the point F, this leverage has become less and that at the point G, the leverage exerted to open the knuckle is very slight; that whereas, at the beginning of the movement the leverage-was equal to the distance from A to H, whereas at the point G, of the movement the leverage was only from H to J.

The operation of our opener is illustrated diagrammatically in Fig. 10. Allowing the travel of the knuckle tail to be represented as between the points A, B, and the direction of force applied by the opener by C, D, it will be seen that at the point A", the full leverage between the points A", H, is secured, due, to the tangential-movement of the opener with respect to the arc of the circle described by the knuckle tail in its opening movement. At the point F, the direction of force of the opener is still tangent to the arc of the circle and at the point Gr it is still tangent and thus the full leverage of the opener is secured at any point. This action is secured by the peculiar mounting of the opener in its loose bearings out of parallelism with a horizontal plane and with the longitudinal axis of the coupler, whereby the opener is permitted to follow the tailof. the knuckle and to exert its ex treme leverage at. any point during the opening movement. This construction and arrangement of parts we believe to be new and to be of extreme importance.

It will be understood that the foregoing description of the diagrammatic views and the action of the knuckle opener is not necessarily an absolutely exactgeometric tangent to the movement of the knuckle tail but is substantially so at all points.

As illustrating the action of the opener we have-shown in Figs- 7, 8 and 9, the relative positions of'the opener in its normal inactive position, the position where the open ing movement has just begun and the extreme opening movement respectively. It

will be seen that by means of this mount ing, the opener is permitted bodily, vertical and horizontal movement, at the same time securing proper leverage without binding or friction: In the beginning of the opening movement, the trunnion 42 is lifted from its seat and the opener moved bodily upward for a short distance. As the movei'nent continues, the opener shifts' sidewise, the

trunnions finally bearing against the upper extremities of the elongated bearing slots.

Upon reference to Fig. 2 it will be seen that there is shown in dotted lines the position of the lock and knuckle thrower when the knuckle is thrown to its extreme opening limit. It will also be seen that the lock ing block 31 is not nearly to its extreme limit of upward movement. This is very important provision, inasmuch as the parts become worn through use and uniess such provision is made it will be found that the knuckle thrower will not have suliicient travel to completely open the knuckle. Therefore in our construction we have provided means whereby the knuckle may be thrown to its extreme limit of opening even though the parts are considerably worn.

It will here be explained that while the lock block 33 has a limited movement longitudinally of the draw-head, in order that it may be unseated from the lock set, it is held against movement transversely of the draw-head in a guideway formed by the knuckle kicker bearings 40 and ll and the opposite upright wall of the recess in the head of the conpler,

It will be noted that the'construction of the link 36 and clevis 37 is such that when' the parts are in their normal closed position, the opening in the top of the coupler head is completely closed, thus excluding snow or dirt such as would tend to restrict the free operation of the coupler.

We are aware that this coupler may be modified in many ways from the precise construction shown in the drawings and we do not therefore wish to be limited to the exact construction herein shown and described.

vVe claim:

l. A coupler, comprising, in combination, a coupler head, a knuckle pivoted therein, means for-locking said knuckle in closed position, and a knuckle thrower mounted in said head and having a portion adapted to contact the tail of the knuckle, the said thrower being pivoted in lqose'bearings for compound movement whereby the direction said knuckle in closed position, and a knuckle thrower pivoted within said coupler bearings for said thrower being arranged to.

.permit a limited vertical movement thereof, substantially as described.

3. 'A coupler comprising, in combination,

a coupler head, a knuckle pivoted therein, means for locking said knuckle in closed position, and a thrower for opening said knuckle, trunnions on said knuckle thrower, bearings in said head for said trunnions', said bearings being out of. parallelism with a horizontal plane and with the longitudinal axis of said coupler andbeingso arranged as to permit a limited bodily, compound movement of said knuckle thrower, substantially as described.

4. A coupler comprising a coupler head, a swinging knuckle provided on its tail with a shoulder extending transversely thereof, a lock having a projection, and lock-setting means including a lock set shoulder disposed to the rear of the front face of the lock, the projection on the lock frictionally and slidably engaging the forward face of the shoulder on the knuckle tail during opening movement of the knuckle to positively draw the lock forwardly from its lock set position, and said projection being in frictional and slidable engagement with the front face of the shoulder on the. knuckle tail during closing movement of the knuckle to prevent the lock from going back on the lock set shoulder during the closing of the knuckle, substantially as described.

A coupler comprising a coupler head, a swinging knuckle having a groove on the tail thereof eccentric to the pivot of the knuckle, a locking member, and lock-setting means including a lock set shoulder disposed to the rear of the front face of the lock, said locking member being provided on thegforward lower portion thereof with a projec tion depending below the bottom of the lock: ing member and lying in the groove during the opening movement of the knuckle to positively draw the lock forwardly from its lock set position, and said projection lying in ,the groove during'the closing movement of the knuckle to prevent thelockfrom go ing back on the lock set shoulder'during the closing of the knuckle, substantiallyas described.

6.. A-coupler comprising acoupler head, a swinging knuckle, a lock, a lock-set in rear of the front face of the lock, and a positive 'swingmg knuckle having a tail provided in the upper face with a groove eccentric to the p vot of the knuckle and extending entirely across the tail, 2. lock,and a lock set in rear. of the front face of the lock, said lock being provided upon its bottom with a projection lying in the path of the rear wall of the groove during the opening movement of the knuckle and while the lock is on the lock set, to draw the lock forwardly from the lock set during the opening movement of the knuckle, the projection being outside of the respective ends of the groove in the extreme open and closed p ositions of the knuckle, and the knuckle tail being provided with a in the extreme open position of the knuckle to prevent the lock from going back on the lock set, substantially as described.

8. A coupler comprising a coupler head,

a swinging knuckle having a transverse shoulder on the tail thereof, a lock, and a lock-set shoulder on the head in rear of the front face of the lock, said lock having a seat portion to seat upon the lock-set shoulder and also provided at its front with a depending portion to engage the front wall of the shoulder on the knuckle tail and thereby .hold the lock with its seat portion below the lock-set shoulder when the lock is dropped from an elevation above the lock set position and in an open position 'of the knuckle, substantially as described.

9. A coupler comprising a coupler head, a swinging knuckle, a vertically-movable look, a knuckle kicker, and bearings for the knuckle kicker, the lock lying between the bearings and one wall of, the coupler head, said wall and bearings forming a vert cal guideway for the lock'and preventing sidewise movement thereof transversely of the head, substantially as described. ROBERT E. L. JANNEY. EDMUND P. '-KINNE. "Witnesses:

A, Tasman-ones,

A ER 

